Move to speed up work assessments

Face-to-face interviews look set to be sidelined in a shake-up of the Government’s work capability assessment.

Ministers are examining whether the hour-long sessions, which have been described by claimants as demeaning, are routinely necessary.

The move would help to streamline the application process, address a huge backlog of claims, reduce the number of appeals and cut costs to taxpayers.

If the plan goes ahead, the system would mean less input from health outsourcing companies such as Atos, which last month pulled out of its £500 million contract to carry out the face-to-face tests. The Government is now looking for a new provider.

The revised system would give a bigger role to civil servants who would be responsible for gathering written evidence from the applicant and…